13 Aug 2008

NeMe: The Mirror Stage

NeMe, in collaboration with Lanitis Foundation and the Cyprus University of Technology presents 'The Mirror Stage', a video program and talks at Lanitis Foundation and other places in the Limassol city centre.

The program which is presented by IMCA and coordinated by Yiannis Colakides, includes:

* 17 September 2008, 8.00pm, VJ Event by Felipe Frozza (BR) and Luigi Vitali(IT), THEATRO ENA, Limassol, Cyprus

* 20 September 2008, 4.30pm, Academic Conference on New Media. Speakers: Dr Edward Shanken (US), Dr Dimitris Charitos (GR) and Dr Christos Barboutis (GR). Moderator: Dr Antonis Danos (CY), Lanitis Foundation, Limassol, Cyprus

* 20 September 2008, 8pm, Opening of 'The Mirror Stage' Exhibition, Exhibition, Duration: 20-29 September 2008, Lanitis Foundation, Limassol, Cyprus

* 22 September 2008, 5-8pm, Public Screen 1 - continuous screening of some of the selected videos, Dinos Art Cafe, Irinis st, Limassol, Cyprus

* 25 September 2008, 5-8pm, Public Screen 2 - continuous screening of some of the selected videos, Veni Vidi Vici, Kanari st, Limassol, Cyprus

* 27 September 2008, 9am-1pm, Public Screen 3 - continuous screening of some of the selected videos, Brent Cross, Anexartisias st, Limassol, Cyprus

'In 1980 Bill Viola recorded in his notes: 'No beginning/No end/No direction/No duration - Video as mind' (Silvia Martin, Video Art, 2006). In his book 'Videography' (1994) Sean Cubitt wrote: 'There is no video theory in the way that there is a body of knowledge called film theory or, rather differently, television studies.' Cubitt's reflections 'assume the status of art and take its place' (Dellbrügg & de Moll, Theorie Remix, 1994 on art criticism). These diverse or - one might argue - parallel approaches between the practitioners and the theorists prevent the establishment of a unifying theory for video which has not only developed but also expanded its presence in our everyday life. The plethora of theoretical texts discussing either its various capture, compositing or presentation technologies or the videos themselves can currently be viewed as art instead of guiding 'manuals'. As such this art genre exists in a perpetual state of flux not governed by textual volumes but by the practitioners and the advances in hardware and software technologies.

The current reliance of video on an ever developing software technology forces the video makers to relearn their craft on every major software update. This (bi)annual update of software tools create a cycle where the knowledge of the tool needs to be re-discovered leaving the video makers in a perpetual state of not only conceptual but also technical exploration. These explorations are present in most video exhibitions, the internet, etc helping this art genre to exponentially grow in the past ten years allowing it to create a presence and an ever growing international audience.

The events are focused in the presupposition that video has reached a level of consciousness that could potentially be determined through its contradictions. As such the program looks at video through the Lacanian, 'Mirror Stage'. That is, how the reflected image acts as a basic ingredient in the constitution of the picture from the subject and how this can be translated as commentary on the state of video, today.

The participating video makers are: Ziad Alhalabi, Muhammad Ali, Sonia Armaniaco, Paulo R. C. Barros, Neil Beloufa, Orit Ben-Shitrit and Harold Moss, Cristiano Berti, Nisrine Boukhari, Nathan Boyer, Rose Butler, Domenico Buzzetti, Blake Carrington, Marina Chernikova, Christodoulos Christodoulou, Paul Destieu, Alexei Dmitriev, Dubrass, Yiannos Economou, Joëlle Ferly, Taryn FitzGerald, Thorsten Fleisch, Adonis Florides, Michael Fortune, Felipe Frozza, Jonathan Gitelson, Suguru Goto, Gruppo Làbun, Ann Guest, Henry Gwiazda, Rich Heeman, Sonja Hinrichsen, Sam Holden, Tammy Honey, Sharon Horodi and Cheb M. Kammerer, Chris Ireland, Maria Rosa Jijon, Aditi Kulkarni, Robert Ladislas Derr, Aileen Lambert, Brendan Lee, LEMEH42, Youssef Limoud, Ron Longsdorf, Simon Longo, Lustre, Avigail Manneberg, Jonathan David McPherson, Michaela Nettell, Anne Niemetz, Jonas Nilsson, Eric Olofsen, Eva Olsson, Sharon Paz, Anat Pollack, Stuart Pound, Zach Rockhill, Daniel Rodrigo, Antti Savela, Guli Silberstein, Roddy Simpson, Sean Simpson, Elizabeth Smolarz, Megan Smith, Oliver Smith, Tobias Sternberg, Evelin Stermitz, Dia Theodorou, Jennie Thwing, John Tronsor, Lee Wells, Vagner M. Whitehead, Shaun Wilson, Gordon Winiemko, David Yates, Theodore Zeldin and Poppy Sebag-Montefiore.

'The Mirror Stage' events are sponsored by The Cultural Services of the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture, The US Embassy in Cyprus and Hadjikyriakos & Sons Ltd.